The Beautiful Longshaw Estate in the Peak District

Monday was an inset day at my son's school, so we headed off to the beautiful Peak District for a day out, having adventures and making memories.

First stop was the Longshaw Estate, a beautiful National Trust site that was full of things to do and see for us and the children.

Used during the first world war as an auxiliary hospital, the main building is a beautiful property that is steeped in history, I can only imagine the peace and tranquillity this offered for those soldiers recovering from the trauma of the front line.

One of the main features of the estate are the bogs and the aptly named boggarts, small goblin-like creatures that live in the bogs, ok so we know they aren’t real but for my son this was an exciting prospect which lead to a few hours of fruitless searching!

With several trails around the estate we opted for the Hairy Wood Ant trail, on this trail you are in for a treat as you search for one of Britain’s biggest ants! It is about a mile walk, although with some serious detours for boggart hunting we probably did more like 2 miles.

The boggart trail is really great for kids, it gets their imagination racing and hopefully this will be a memory the children have when they grow older, first stop boggart view for a spot of balancing and boggart spotting.

Then onto boggart burrow, walking under the huge and stunning rhodendrons was a real treat for us all, the branches were just so beautiful, we didn’t spot a boggart but we did find some tracks and scratches.

The stunning lake and unbelievably lush green grass was beautiful, we walked across the fields to find some sheep and some big rocks to climb, making sure to spot the wildlife and pretty wildflowers.

Further round the trail we found boggart hole, a couple of falls and mucky bottoms later we finally spotted the ants, the size of them kinda made me squeal! Not really a huge ant fan but these were pretty impressive, we could see them climbing up the tree in a line and carrying leaves and bits of debris, I even managed to capture two ‘fighting’ as my son said, I prefer to think they are giving each other a kiss.

After this it was spot the ant hill, my son and husband went off in search of more rock and came across a few ant hills and then as we walked further round and knew what we were looking for we found more, all in all about 20. There is plenty of space to play games, hide and seek is our current favourite and the view from the side of the hill was stunning!

It really is a great estate, back at the house there is boggart rise with lots of little doors carved into some trees, I made the children knock before opening to see if there was anything there, we had taken little torches for the children so they could do some proper investigating, these came in handy on a few occasions.

Finally we went into the den building area, an area put aside for you to build dens, this is really big at the moment and we have been to a few places that have branches and an area you can build in.

We continued on into the Peak District and visited Peveril castle in Castleton, but as this post has gone on longer than I’d expected i'll talk more about that next time...

Linking up with Country Kids on Coombe Mill

We Will Remember Them

When we visited France a few years ago, we visited the D-Day beaches in Normandy. It was an evocative experience and an important piece of education alongside the new food we tried and language skills we learnt whilst over there.

I suppose for some it is a dull way to spend a holiday but this year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI and 70 years since the D-Day landings and now has never been a better time to learn and respect these important events that are still remembered by some.

The D-Day Landing beaches are a heartbreaking, quiet, reflective place and the cemeteries a startling reminder of the amount of lives lost on that fateful day and those following.

The beaches are a huge expanse and it isn't hard to imagine what those men faced that day, running up those long beaches with machine guns firing at you must have been terrifying. Having been further up the coast to point du hoc and surrounding areas the imposing gun turrets that would have pounded the beaches only add to the emotions.

Further up the coast are the remains of the mulberry harbour, built and shipped across the channel to allow the trucks and tanks to land, this imposing feature only goes to show the work that went into trying to ensure it's success. The landing crafts on show, allow you to see what those men faced, how open they were to everything and how small and cramped it would have been aboard.

Further inland, there is a monument to those who landed first. The taking of Pegasus Bridge was of great military importance, it played a vital role in limiting the effectiveness of a German counter-attack in the days and weeks following the invasion.

As you stand at the exact spot where the gliders landed, you can see how amazingly brave those men were, landing in the dark and being faced with the machine gun fire from nests so close to the bridge.

The bridge itself is not the original one, although it is still a beautiful thing and I absolutely adored the little cafe, which was there that fateful day. The owner, daughter of the original owners, was there that day and remembers the soldiers arriving and giving her chocolate. We sat and had a coffee and I thought about the sacrifice so many people had made.

We see a lot about the two world wars in the news and most of us know, or have known someone that was affected by them. My granddad was just a child when he was evacuated from London during the second world war, my great granddad was killed during the first. It is important for us to remember, those who lost their lives and their futures, they gave up everything so that we may have our freedom.

Today I will be thinking about all those men who lost their lives, the families they left behind and everyone else in between.

Lest We Forget - Visiting L'Aisne

This year sees the buildup to the centenary of first world war, I for one will never forget and never let my children forget the sacrifices made by so many people. My great grandad for one, I will never forget  the loss our family suffered and how it changed the course of our history.

So whenever we are over in France we always go and visit something from WW1 or WW2 and this year was no different.

We stayed in L'Aisne area of France, an area that suffered massive losses and over 90% of the landscape was destroyed from the heavy fighting.

A beautiful landscape, these first images were from hillside above Cavern Du Dragon, unfortunately you couldn't take pictures inside, but the cave itself was unbelievably moving. Seeing the cave as it was left all those years ago, some of it which will never be explored because of the many remaining unexploded bombs.

The tour guide was a knowledgeable lady who explained about the caves and areas around the Chemin De Dames or Ladies Way.

 

These black crosses were in a german cemetery near where we stayed, I cannot explain the sadness I felt visiting this cemetery, so many young men giving their lives needlessly and sometimes without really knowing why. The dark crosses so different to the English and American bright white stone, it really was a moving place. Each cross represents two men, here lay about 11,000 men.

This English Cemetery was resting place to a brave 16 year old soldier who lied about his age and was killed in the vicious fighting in the area, I didn't manage to find his headstone but just looking at the rest was enough to make me stop and stifle back the tears.

And finally the French Cemetery, compared to the English and German Cemeteries this had been left in a sorry state, I am not sure why but I still love the flowers and the shear number of small crosses is a stark reminder of the loss.

Crumbling French Crosses

If you visit this area of France I can highly recommend visiting the Cavern Du Dragon and stopping at the cemeteries along the Chemin De Dames.

Lest We Forget

Today I remember my great grandad who was lost during the first world war, as well as the young family he left behind.

I also remember the other hundreds of thousands or service men and women who didn't make it home and those who are still out there fighting.

I leave you with a few pictures from my visits to two very poignant places.

Theipval Memorial to the Missing where my great grandad is named.

American Cemetery - Omaha Beach

One of the exhibits at the American Cemetery at Omaha

Wherever you are and whatever you believe is right or wrong, I hope you to stop and think about those who gave their lives so that we may live ours in freedom.

Not so Silent Sunday

Today is my not so silent Sunday, not because I'm ranting or shouting about anything, but my photos don't fit the criteria.

It does however fit in with what today is, Remembrance Sunday.

My great grandfather was killed in the Somme on 12th July 1916, my grandad was born in September 1914, we don't know if he ever got to meet him or not!

So cruelly taken away from his wife and their four children he has no known grave. His name appears on the wall of Thiepval Memorial, a memorial to soldiers missing in action.

Those whose bodies could not be identified either because there was no body to identify or because the wooden dog tags of the time hadn't survived!

As gruesome as it sounds I always try to believe things happen for a reason, after all had he not been killed they might not have moved to the house they did and my grandad might not of met my gran!

Thiepval is a very quiet and reflective place. The memorial looks like a huge building when you stand back, but when you get up close the scale of loss becomes obvious!


Name after name line the stones, nothing can compensate for the pain and suffering both those men and their families went through!

I feel sad my grandad never got to go to Thiepval and I was determined I would, to pay my respects to those who will never have their own grave and who never got to see their loved ones again.

Thank you to those who gave their lives so we might have ours and thank you to those that continue to do so at home and abroad!